Investing.com – Wall Street opened higher on Thursday in a day of thin trading, helped by a weaker U.S. dollar.
The S&P 500 rose one point or 0.04% as of 10:25 AM ET (15:25 GMT) while the Dow composite increased 40 points or 0.17% and tech heavy NASDAQ Composite was flat.
The U.S. dollar neared a three-month low amid thin trading on Thursday for the third consecutive day. Some analysts think the weakness is due to sell offs after President Donald Trump signed the tax bill into law.
Financial and technology stocks were among the biggest gainers after the morning bell rang. Electronic trading platform LiNiu Technology jumped 109.20% after it reported its financial results through June 30, 2017. Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) rose 0.64% while Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) increased 0.66% and Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR) gained 0.87%. Meanwhile Bank of America (NYSE:BAC) inched forward 0.23% and Visa Inc (NYSE:V) rose 0.69%.
Elsewhere internet service provider Pareteum Corp (NYSE:TEUM) was down 20.80% after surging 120% on Tuesday when it added Blockchain technology to its system. Financial technology firm LongFin Corp Class A (NASDAQ:LFIN) slumped 6.57% while Bitcoin Investment Trust (OTC:GBTC) fell 7.63% and General Electric (NYSE:GE) inched down 0.60%.
In Europe stocks are mostly down. In Germany the DAX fell 18 points or 0.14% while France’s CAC 40 decreased 10 points or 0.19% and in London the FTSE 100 rose two points or 0.03%. Meanwhile Spain’s IBEX 35 was down 58 points or 0.57% and the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 slumped 14 points or 0.42%.
In commodities, gold futures rose 0.27% to $1,294.90 a troy ounce while crude oil futures decreased 0.15% to 59.55 a barrel. The U.S dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, fell 0.32% to 92.36.